Hercules Animated StoryBook
Reviewed by Cynthia A. Sorrels
Published by Disney Interactive

Age Group: Age 4 to 8 Type: Language Arts Price: $ 34.95 US

PC version requires:
486-66 8 MB RAM, 30 M 2x CD-ROM, Windows 95, also on Windows 3.1, 640x480x256

Mac version requires:
Version is available.

Description:

From "Zero to Hero," Disney's newest Animated StoryBook, Hercules, is a way kids can bring the movie home - BEFORE it's released on video! There are five activities, three sing-alongs - besides the story - and even a picture dictionary that defines words with poetry.

Features:

• Defeat the Hydra - a matching game.
• Mt. Olympus Maze - guide Hercules and Pegasus through but watch out!
• Build mythological monsters.
• Play checkers against Hades, or one of your friends.
• Enjoy singing along with the three sing-along songs from the movie.
• Picture Dictionary - defines words with poetry.

Reactions:

We've enjoyed going to the movies this summer, and Hercules is one of the reasons. My kids loved it (they're aged 3 and 4 years) and have had a wonderful time playing with the StoryBook. There were some scary moments in the movie, and in fact, the program may be less violent than the movie because the scenes are shorter. Our 4 year old has spent hours playing with Hercules and the 3 year old thinks he IS Hercules. I noticed that while he watched me play through the title, he was actually worried about whether we'd get past the monsters in the game sections. Guess Mom scored a few points with him, he was shouting hurrahs when we got through.

I am one of those parents who is truly sick of the Disney marketing machine. Amazing, they put out a magazine (Disney Adventures) that people BUY which consists almost totally of advertisements for their products! Now, that's slick. I'm also aware that many American families may find offensive the way Greek mythology is presented by the movie and computer program, complete with Hades. But the fact is, we enjoyed the movie far more than we'd expected to, and this title is beautifully done.

One other note: Disney often understates the system requirements on their programs. We found this to be the rule for Hercules Animated StoryBook as well, when testing it on our 486-66 system. (Specs: 486-66, 16M RAM, CD-ROM x6, Soundblaster 16) The sound was quite choppy on the 486 machine, although every other aspect ran smoothly. Furthermore, installation took quite a long time, compared to the performance of our Pentium system (P-100, 24M RAM, CD-ROMx6, Soundblaster 16) which took less than 30 seconds.

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